Magnetic Force
by cometdragon96
Summary: Everyone should have saw it coming really. After all magnets and metal attract. (Pyrrha/Penny AU)
1. Chapter 1

_**A.N. I've haven't written anything for RWBY in a long time, but after finally finishing volume 3 I'm an emotional compromised mess in denial. Somehow along the way an idea of shipping Pyrrha and Penny(what's their ship name anyway?) came along and now here we are. I don't know how long I'll continue this, but just know that I'll stick somewhat close to canon. With that enjoy^^.**_

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Chapter 1

"Are you okay ma'am?" Penny jumped not realizing how long she had been staring in the shop window. Apparently the candy shop owner had become concerned, and poked his head outside to check on the unmoving girl in front of his store staring at his display window. He gave Penny a kind smile though opening the door wider.

"You're welcome to come in and look." The shop owner offered gently, and Penny bounced on her feet excitedly. She'd only been in Vale a few days and she was having a blast. There were stores to explore, parks with vibrant trees and plants, Penny even got to make her first friend! She hasn't seen Ruby since they meet, but Penny assumed she must be busy doing whatever Ruby did.

Excitement buzzing in her circuits Penny zoomed into the candy some. Rounding the door Penny went to the other side of the window display watching the miniature amusement park made out of candy move with amazement. There was never something so frivolous in Atlas, though Penny has never seen much of Atlas. Other than the lab she was created in and the military base General Ironwood took her to of course.

The shopkeeper seemed amused by Penny's reaction, not that Penny noticed him to caught up in staring at the mini ferris wheel spin its candycane spokes carrying even more candy around. It wasn't long though before Penny gasped as a mini chocolate water fountain began shooting liquid chocolate into the air. The shopkeeper returned to the counter to help another customer leaving Penny to excitedly watch the display.

Penny was positively dazzled by the display, it must have taken the shop keeper weeks to construct the necessary parts to make everything in the display move. And everything was made out of candy no less! One would think since Penny was one of the most advance creations ever designed. Penny would find such devices beneath her, but it had the exact opposite effect. It was amazing what people could create, such creativity was slightly beyond Penny.

The bell tied to the door ringing broke the spell the display had on Penny. Glancing around she realized she must have been staring at the display for quite awhile. She felt quite bad, she had no money to buy anything. She wasn't even supposed to be out exploring the city, her father told her to stay put until the General's men arrived. However, Penny wasn't about to ignore the whole city she could explore.

Wasn't it customary when entering a store to purchase something? Penny hoped she wouldn't insult the kind looking shopkeeper by not buying something. Even if she could buy something Penny wasn't sure what to do with candy. She definitely couldn't eat it after all.

Carefully Penny slipped out of the store before the shopkeeper could notice her leaving. It wasn't until Penny was a good distance from the store that she resumed a normal stride down the street.

Safely away from the store Penny's previous excitement returned. Vale was so large, she had yet to visit every corner of the city. Penny was so wrapped up in trying to look at all the sights she didn't see the person walking her way until she felt herself stumbling from bumping into them.

"Oh Sorry!" A hand caught Penny before she could actually fall. After righting herself Penny looked at whoever she'd bumped into finding a woman holding her arm steadying her.

"I apologize I wasn't looking where I was going." Calm emerald eyes looked at Penny, the girl who Penny assumed was around her age gave her a kind look letting go of Penny once she was stable.

"It's quite alright I wasn't watching either!" Penny responded cheerfully, the girl smiled slightly at Penny's enthusiastic response.

"I'm Penny it's a pleasure to meet you!" It seemed Penny was developing a habit of bumping into people. If they all became her friends like Ruby though then Penny was alright with that. The girl seemed to hesitate before giving her name, glancing around as if to see if anyone in the vicinity was listening.

"Pyrrha, well meet. Sorry for bumping into you again." Already too soon Pyrrha was giving a wave goodbye begining to continue on her way. Penny wanted to continue talking with the fiery haired girl, but Pyrrha was already getting lost in the crowd of people before Penny could come up with something to say.

She hung her head sadden at the lost chance to make a new friend, but something on the ground caught her eye. Picking it up it was a scroll, looking back up Penny realized it was Pyrrha's. The device must have fallen out of her pocket when they bumped into each other.

"Pyrrha wait you dropped this!" Penny called out racing after Pyrrha.

* * *

"Of all the places to lose my scroll." Pyrrha muttered to herself, later she would have to apologize to Jaune for laughing when Nora poked fun at him for always losing his. Pyrrha frowned she wouldn't be able to catch a ride back to Beacon without her scroll. The ferry required identification in order to board. Looks like she was going to have to use a public phone and call Jaune to come get her.

The shopkeeper of the weapon shop gave Pyrrha an odd look when her expression changed upon noticing her scroll was missing. Quickly paying the man Pyrrha exited the store, double checking her pockets just to be sure her scroll was actually gone. It appeared to be so, certainly unfortunate but nothing to be all too concerned about.

It wasn't long before Pyrrha found a payphone punching in Jaune's number the phone rang a few times before a familiar voice answered.

"Hmf...hell...hello." Pyrrha heard Jaune's groggy voice and the huntress smiled fondly. The night before the two had a pretty intensive training session on the rooftop. It wasn't surprising her team leader was sleeping in, though perhaps sleeping in till noon was a bit excessive.

"Jaune it's me." After a short pause of Jaune no doubt fully waking up before he answered.

"Pyrrha? Why is your number different? What time is it?" Pyrrha laughed lightly listening to Jaune try and get his bearings.

"It's about noon Jaune, I'm calling from a payphone I lost my scroll." Pyrrha admitted smiling sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. Another moment Pyrrha heard shuffling on the other end.

"You lost your scroll?" Disbelief was apparent in Jaune's voice and Pyrrha sighed. While Jaune never put her on a pedestal like everyone else for being who she was. He did have his moments where he believed her incapable of making silly mistakes due to her skills.

"Yes, I think it fell out of my pocket. I'm in Vale right now, and I was wondering if you could come by and help me catch a ferry back to Beacon." More shuffling on the other line which Pyrrha would guess was Jaune getting dressed.

"Ya sure only fair after all the times you came and got me. Can it wait a little bit though I promised Ruby I'd study with her for that history test coming up. We'll be done by three I swear!"

"That's fine Jaune I think I'll manage on my own till then." Pyrrha said soothingly, though Pyrrha wasn't sure what she'd do, but she wasn't going to cut into Jaune's study time. After the accident with Cardin Jaune has been trying so hard to improve. Pyrrha didn't want to keep him from that. She couldn't ask Ren and Nora as it was a weekend and they were visiting their home village for the first time in a while, and despite considering herself on friendly terms with everyone on Team RWBY. She had yet to memorize any of their numbers to try calling them.

"You sure? I'm sure Ruby can just bother Weiss until she studies with her." Jaune no doubt felt a tad guilty that whenever he lost his scroll Pyrrha was there in an instant to bail him out. Pyrrha didn't mind at all though she understood history was not Jaune's subject, and he had to take any time who could get to study.

"It's fine Jaune, I think I have a few more things to get done anyway." It was a lie, but Pyrrha didn't want Jaune to beat himself up over this. In truth Pyrrha didn't like walking out in the city. Too many people would recognize her, and would swarm her asking for autographs or some ridiculous questions. A downside to having your face plastered everywhere as the Mistral regional champion.

Pyrrha bid Jaune goodbye the two agreeing to meet by the docks in about three hours. Hanging up the phone Pyrrha sighed again wondering what she should do for three hours. She already bought a good amount of spare parts that should keep her occupied modifying Akoúo̱ for at least the end of the semester. Other than that Pyrrha couldn't really think of anything else to do. The Mistral champ would admit outside of training to become a huntress she lacked many hobbies. It suited her just fine as Pyrrha was fully committed to becoming the best huntress she could be.

Times like this though Pyrrha wished she had something to occupy her time. Exiting the phone booth Pyrrha began walking down the busy Vale street. Perhaps she could go to the local library and get her own studying done.

As Pyrrha pondered this a familiar voice caught her attention.

"I'm so sorry I didn't mean to…." Pyrrha looked up ahead to find the girl from earlier today looking quite distraught standing next to a fruit stand. Half the fruit though was laying on the ground and from the look on the faunus stand owner's face he was less than pleased.

"You better have the cash to pay for all this. Half my stock ruined!" The fruit stand owner spat, Pyrrha narrowed her eyes. Glancing at the people passing by as if nothing was happening this outburst must be a normal occurrence for him. Penny, Pyrrha recalled was the girl's name was wringing her hands looking rather nervous.

"I..don't have any money." The faunus' eyes narrowed, something akin to a snarl coming to his lips.

"You're not going to pay me back! Humans! All the same, all of you! I'm calling the police unless you wanna pay up girl." Pyrrha's frown deepened, it was men like this that gave faunus a bad name. He clearly was making a big deal out of this just because Penny was human. Quickening her step Pyrrha began to approach to the two.

"Please don't! I didn't mean to knock over your fruit I swear!" The threat of police seemed to actually scare Penny, and the girl looked frantic to stop him from involving them. Before the stand owner could spit out a response Pyrrha stepped in between the two.

"What do you want?" The faunus growled out, Pyrrha stood between the two, her taller frame hiding the smaller girl behind her. She gave a man a cold glare, pulling out her wallet she got out her card.

"Here I'll pay for the fruit, now leave her alone it was an accident." Pyrrha stated calmly handing over her card. She wasn't concerned how much the fruit cost, she had plenty of money from the tournaments she won. Glaring at her the man took the card, swiping it through the machine waiting a second to make sure it was legit before tossing the card back to Pyrrha.

"Fine get away from my stand now before you ruin more of my stock." Still glaring at the man Pyrrha turned placing a gentle hand on Penny's back guiding her away from the stand.

As soon as they were a decent distance from the stand Pyrrha took her hand away from Penny. Before she could say anything though she nearly fell over as Penny tackled her throwing her arms around Pyrrha's tall frame hugging the taller girl.

"Thank you! I wasn't sure what to do, that man wouldn't stop yelling." Pyrrha carefully disentangled herself from Penny's arms. The smaller girl seemed to sense Pyrrha's discomfort she let go taking a step back, though she still smiled. This caused Pyrrha to smile as well happy to have helped get Penny out of that situation. That man was out of line freaking out as he did.

"It's no problem, that man was overreacting a bit." Though Pyrrha could slightly understand the man being upset over losing his product. He didn't need to lash out as he did if it was just an accident.

"Are you okay? He didn't hurt you or anything?" Pyrrha gave Penny a look over she appeared fine, but Pyrrha just wanted to be sure.

"Don't worry I am operating at one hundred percent efficiency!" Pyrrha laughed lightly at the shorter girl's enthusiasm. She certainly jumped back from appearing so distraught moments before.

"Good to hear, try to be more careful next time though." The huntress in training went to continue on her way when Penny jumped in front of her.

"Wait! Isn't this your's?" Penny held out a scroll, Pyrrha stared at it for a second before taking the offered item. A smile came to her face, it was indeed her scroll. She must have dropped it when she bumped into Penny the first time.

"Yes thank you, I thought I lost this." Penny beamed her neon green eyes seeming to sparkle in happiness.

"That's a relief, I was looking all over for you trying to give that back. You have several missed calls by the way. I thought it'd be rude to answer a phone that wasn't mine." Pyrrha activated her scroll, looking at said missed calls. Frowning they were all from home, they must be trying to get in contact with her to discuss break plans with her. The end of the semester was fast approaching and they were probably wondering if Pyrrha intended to come home. Something Pyrrha herself wasn't sure if she intended to do so yet. Looking back at Penny the girl was standing with her hands folded behind her back waiting for Pyrrha to say something. Pyrrha smiled, thankful Penny went through all the trouble to return her scroll to her. Now she could call Jaune and tell him not to worry about coming to get her.

"Thank you Penny, I wouldn't be able to get back to Beacon easily without this." Penny seemed to light up at the mention of Beacon.

"You go to Beacon? Are you going to be participating in the Vytal festival?" Here it comes Pyrrha thought, she's going to recognize Pyrrha as the invincible girl and there went any pleasant conversation.

"I do and I am." Again Penny lite up in excitement.

"Sensational! Perhaps we will get a chance to duel then." Pyrrha's eyebrow rose at that, Penny didn't really seem like a huntress in training at first glance. Then again neither did a lot of students at Beacon, and some of them were the best fighters in their class. Ruby for example seemed like the most non-threatening person around, but she wielded one of the most dangerous weapons designed. It was then Pyrrha noticed that Penny had still yet to recognize her, or if she did she didn't mention it. An idea that made Pyrrha smile.

"Maybe we will, you came for the festival then. Where are you from?" Pyrrha didn't really notice that the two had started walking down the street, but Penny was following by her side.

"Atlas, I've come to test myself in the tournament." Penny seemed quite proud of that fact, and Pyrrha could relate. She had a similar feeling when she entered a tournament of any kind. Though after so many times the feeling of pride and excitement was starting to dull.

"Aside from earlier are you enjoying your time here in Vale?" Being a renowned regional champion Pyrrha has traveled to nearly all of the main kingdoms for tournaments and other such events. Vale was certainly pleasant though Pyrrha had to admit it was colder than her home kingdom of Mistral.

"It's simply wonderful here! Unfortunately I keep looking at everything around me instead of where I'm going." Penny gave a sheepish smile having run into both Pyrrha and the faunus' fruit stand due to being distracted by the sights around her.

"I'd say there are worse problems to have. It worked out in the end after all." Pyrrha motioned to the scrolled Penny returned to her smiling. Though Penny frowned remembering the accident with the fruit stand.

"I am truly sorry you had to pay for all that fruit…" Pyrrha stopped her before she could even offer to pay Pyrrha back in some way.

"It's alright Penny, anything to help out a new friend." Penny was positively beaming as soon as Pyrrha called her friend.

"We're friends? Really?" The shorter girl was almost vibrating with excitement, and Pyrrha nodded.

"Of course, after two chance encounters. I'd say destiny would declare we should meet."

"Sensational!" Penny then went on to happily talk about all the things they could do as friends, Pyrrha listening with a small smile on her face.

The moment didn't seem to last though, as Pyrrha saw something catch Penny's eye. Bright eyes widening Penny grimaced. Pyrrha turned her head to see what Penny had seen only for Penny's strained voice stop her.

"I...have to go now. I have to…. train for the tournament." A small hiccup followed Penny's hurried words. The shorter girl was out of sight dashing away before Pyrrha could say anything to stop her.

Once Penny was gone Pyrrha turned to see what had spooked the girl so much. There wasn't anything of note though an expensive looking car pulled up next to Pyrrha. The windows were tinted, and one of them rolled down just enough to let sound pass through, but not allowing Pyrrha to see who she was talking to.

"Excuse me miss have you seen a young girl about your age around here?" Pyrrha immediately knew the masculine voice was asking about Penny, but Pyrrha's eyes narrowed suspiciously. If the sight of this car made Penny run, then Pyrrha didn't believe he should be trusted.

"No sir, I haven't." Pyrrha answered coolly, she could just barely hear the man saying something to another person in the car.

"Sorry to bother you miss, thank you for the help." The window was rolled back up, and the car pulled away. Once the car was gone Pyrrha pulled out her scroll checking the time. It was about quarter after two. Tapping a few keys on her scroll she called Jaune to tell him that he didn't need to come get her. That car left Pyrrha was a bad feeling, and her conscious wouldn't let her go without making sure Penny was okay.

After a quick call to Jaune who wasn't surprised Pyrrha found her scroll. Pyrrha pocket the device then quickly went on her way to find Penny.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A.N. Hey lovely readers if you stuck around for the second chapter you're great and deserve a cookieXD. Anyway not much else to say other than enjoy the chapter^^**_

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Chapter 2

Finding Penny was proving to be a more difficult task than Pyrrha thought it'd be. An hour later after first setting out with the purpose to find her. Pyrrha had yet to see any sign of the auburn haired girl. Pyrrha had to give it to her when Penny didn't want to be found, she wasn't going to be found.

Not yet anyway, Pyrrha was a huntress in training she wasn't going to give up so easily. Unfortunately this was going to be a particularly hard task. If she started asking around then Penny might catch wind and think it was the man in the car searching for her. That would only cause her to go deeper into hiding, and Pyrrha didn't know Penny well enough to come up with an idea of where she would go to hide. Pyrrha would just have to go on assumptions until she found a trace of her.

Thinking Penny was new to Vale, so she wouldn't know that many places to hide yet. Pyrrha snapped her fingers, quickening her steps Pyrrha started heading to the park. A large open place with plenty of people coming and going. A perfect place to get away from everything, plus it was large enough to offer an easy escape if someone was tracking you down.

The park was only a few blocks away, and Pyrrha easily crossed the distance within a few minutes. At the park Pyrrha began to search around for Penny. It was getting later in the day, so there were few people around. A few joggers and a park gardener were the only people around. Just when Pyrrha was about to give up and search somewhere else she heard a familiar voice giggling. It was coming from a tree far away from anyone else.

Rounding the tree Pyrrha found Penny sitting under the shade cupping something in her hands. Letting out a sigh of relief Pyrrha smiled making herself known.

"Hello again," Penny jumped covering whatever was in her hands looking up at Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha! I…" Pyrrha stopped her already sensing she was going to try and come up with a reason why she wasn't training.

"It's okay, I'm just glad I found you." Penny tilted her head in confusion.

"You were looking for me?" Pyrrha nodded sliding down taking a seat next to Penny her back resting against the tree.

"Of course I was worry when you ran off, I thought you might be in trouble. Who was that man in the car searching for you?" The auburned haired girl frowned in thought before realizing who Pyrrha was talking about.

"Oh! That was my father he was looking for me." Pyrrha's eyebrow rose wondering why Penny was running away from her father. A small tinge of worry crossed Pyrrha's mind hoping Penny's father didn't force Penny to run from him.

"Why did you run away then?"

"My father doesn't want me wandering around the city alone. He wants me to wait until General Ironwood arrives with his men to protect me." Penny was frowning clearly not happy with it. Pyrrha had to wonder, if Penny was a huntress in training why did she need protecting? Then again if Pyrrha had a child she would assume she would want them to have protection wandering around alone in a new environment, even if they were a huntress in training. Before Pyrrha could say anything else Penny spoke again.

"I wasn't supposed to leave the airship." The shorter girl mumbled guilty, and now Pyrrha fully understood why Penny ran. Pyrrha could understand not wanting to face an angry or disappointed parent.

"Well, technically you're not alone right now, so your father shouldn't worry. Maybe you should call him, and tell him you're with a friend. That way he doesn't worry, and you can keep exploring the city." Pyrrha offered, if Penny's father was actively searching for her. It would certainly be better to let him know than to keep him in the dark.

"He'll probably still worry, I guess I should…." A small chirp interrupted Penny, both girls looking to Penny's hands where the sound came from. Opening her hands Penny revealed she had been holding a cricket. The small insect seemed to be pleased to not be enclosed within Penny's hands now. Making a small chirping sound the bug hopped out of Penny's hand onto her arm, quickly jumping up to rest on her shoulder.

"I've never seen so many insects, Atlas is far too cold for most to survive." Penny was grinning at the cricket that seemed content to rest on her shoulder.

"I don't want to think how cold it must be up there. I grew up in Mistral, it's fairly warm and we have plenty of wildlife there, certainly a lot of bugs" It felt like forever since Pyrrha finished her training in Sanctum before coming to Vale and Beacon. Though northern Mistral was known for being colder. The area Pyrrha grew up in was warm all year round, Pyrrha had never seen snow in her life until she started traveling around to compete in different tournaments.

"Really? I've never been to Mistral, this is the first time I've ever left Atlas. What's it's like there?" Penny lite up at Pyrrha's words seemingly genuinely interested in Pyrrha's old home. Pyrrha paused for a moment trying to find a way to best describe her home.

"Well, I grew up in a village a ways east of Mistral's capital. Most people think of that area as just swamps, but there are a few groves that are more hospitable than most think." Pyrrha paused, no one has ever asked her about her home other than a few vague details. Usually all people were worried about were what kind of opponents she'd defeated or when her next big tournament would be. She was unsure what to tell Penny. She was so used to just giving generic answers that Pyrrha was uncertain how to give a genuine one. Penny saved her the trouble though seeming to accept her short answer.

"A village? Isn't it dangerous to live outside the main kingdom?" Penny must be from the capital of Atlas. Pyrrha wasn't too surprised most people who lived in the safety of the cites found it odd to live outside them. Though there were dozens of villages spread out all around Remnant they came and went yearly. It wasn't too surprising when a village disappeared like the wind, destroyed by the Grimm's hands.

"Mine was relatively safe, I haven't been there in awhile though…." Pyrrha trailed off remembering the missed calls from home on her scroll. Mentally Pyrrha scolded herself, she really should call before her mother decided to drag herself to Beacon, and demand a reason Pyrrha didn't answer her.

"Do you miss it?" Penny's voice broke Pyrrha from her thoughts, she blinked before her face took a melancholy expression.

"A bit, but who doesn't miss home every now and again. I'm used to it." The auburn haired girl tilted her head frowning.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm away from home a lot I suppose." Pyrrha quickly brushed to question away, thankfully Penny seemed to sense it and let the topic drop. For someone who seemed naive at first glance Pyrrha got the feeling Penny was more observant than she let on. Though Pyrrha couldn't judge right now, after all she just met the girl. Pyrrha had to to admit Penny was nice to talk to even if they only just met.

"Are there butterflies in Mistral?" Penny asked suddenly, Pyrrha blinked, the shorter girl looked completly serious in her question though.

"Yes, can I ask why you're wondering about butterflies?" The cricket on Penny's shoulder chirped as Penny laughed sheepishly.

"Sorry, I've never seen one in person before. That's why I came to the festival though, so I can experience everything I couldn't in Atlas." There was a brief pause from Pyrrha. She wasn't sure if never seeing something as simple as a butterfly was normal for living in Atlas, but then again it was very cold in that region of Remnant so maybe it was normal. Pyrrha made a mental note to see if it was a similar with Weiss, but Weiss was the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. No doubt she has traveled with her family to the other capitals, so perhaps it would remain a mystery for now.

An idea came to Pyrrha, and she had a feeling that it would make Penny's day. Standing up Pyrrha told her to wait at the tree for a moment. Quickly Pyrrha found the closest flower patch, it was getting late in the day so it took a few minutes, but eventually she found a brightly colored butterfly resting on a flower. The small insect took off as Pyrrha approached, but she easily gently cupped the bug in her hands and headed back over to Penny.

"Well, you can cross one thing off your list now." Sitting back down Pyrrha opened her hands letting the small insect free. Penny gasped her eyes sparkling in amazement.

"Sensational!" Unlike the cricket that seemed content to stick with Penny. The butterfly fluttered in the air a bit before it took off back to the flowers. Pyrrha laughed lightly at Penny's reaction, it felt good to help out with something simple that clearly brought Penny emess joy. Plus Pyrrha was enjoying sitting here talking with Penny. Catching a butterfly to bring Penny some happiness Pyrrha felt was a good thing in her mind.

The two continued talking comfortably under the tree for awhile. Penny excitedly telling Pyrrha about everything she wanted to see now that she's left Atlas. Pyrrha inturn told Penny about Beacon and Mistral, or any other odd things the auburn haired girl came up with to ask Pyrrha. The sun was setting by the time Pyrrha stood up stretching, she offered her hand to Penny helping the other girl back up as well.

Pyrrha nearly lost her footing when Penny tackled her wrapping her arms around her hugging the taller girl tightly.

"Oh this was so much fun today! Thank you for hanging out with me Pyrrha!" Penny sounded so genuinely happy about it Pyrrha had to smile too.

"No need for thanks Penny, it was splendid. We should meet up again sometime, though maybe we should try not to literally bump into each other." Penny gave a sheepish grin pulling away from the taller girl.

"I'll certainly try! I think I'd rather avoid upsetting anyone else…." A frown came to Penny's face thinking of the angry faunus from earlier today. Pyrrha gave her a reassuring smile giving the girl a playful punch on the shoulder to regain her attention.

"I'm sure you'll get the hang of it. You're definitely doing better than I did the first time I visited a city." The first time Pyrrha ever went to a city was for her first tournament in Mistral's capital. To say the least city life didn't agree with her. At the time Pyrrha was young enough to not have full control of her semblance when she was nervous, and visiting a completely new place for a tournament definitely made the younger Pyrrha nervous. That left many things either magnetized to something else, or even worse stuck to Pyrrha.

Penny laughed no doubt wondering what happened to Pyrrha on her first visit to a city. The two left the park together Penny the entire time trying to get Pyrrha to tell her what happened to her in the city. Stating it was only fair since Pyrrha saw what happened to her. The playful banter continued until Penny had to zip away after spotting the car that Pyrrha assumed belonged to her father. Pyrrha gave her a disapproving look realizing Penny never did call her father to tell him she was fine. Still though she smiled as they waved goodbye going their separate ways agreeing to meet up again sometime. Not before Pyrrha gave Penny her scroll number so Penny could message or call her of course.

Pyrrha got back to Beacon happily going back to her shared dorm where she found a frantic Jaune who told Pyrrha that Ruby had to bail on him for some important reason. After trying to explain that he tried to study by himself he eventually relented admitting he had no idea about a thing that was going to be on the test. Sighing Pyrrha smiled spending the rest of the evening studying with Jaune.

* * *

The next day Pyrrha was in the sizable Beacon gym, a punching bag hanging in front of her. Leveling her breathing Pyrrha gave the bag a series of quick jabs finishing with kick that caused the bag to reel back from the force.

Letting out a breath Pyrrha wiped her sweaty bangs from her face. Stepping away from the punching bag Pyrrha picked up her bottled water that was sitting next to her bag taking a quick sip. It was still early in the morning so the gym was empty aside from Pyrrha. Strange as normally Pyrrha could find Yang here warming up before starting the day. Pyrrha herself did the same almost everyday usually giving herself one or two days off a week depending on her classes' workload for the week.

Sitting her water back down Pyrrha went over to one of the more open spaces getting down Pyrrha started doing push-ups, counting out loud so she knew when it would be a good time to stop.

She was around forty-five when she heard someone else enter the gym. Out of the corner of her eye she saw familiar shoes, so Pyrrha continued her workout knowing it was just Jaune. She heard Jaune plop down next to her with a yawn, then she heard the blonde munching on something.

"Morning Jaune," Pyrrha greeted in between rising and lowering her body back down. Jaune response was only a hum in greeting and the sound of more munching. This was a regular occurrence with her team leader, he was many things a morning person was not one of them. Pyrrha once offered to workout with him in the mornings, but Juane declined joking that he can barely speak in the morning let alone work out. Still the two got into a schedule where Pyrrha would wake up first go down to the gym to begin her workout. Jaune would wake up when Pyrrha was about halfway through her workout. Then he would come down and relax and eat a small snack before they both went down to breakfast with the rest of their team.

Ren and Nora wouldn't be back to later today, so it was just Pyrrha and Jaune today. Finishing up her pushups Pyrrha got back up to see Jaune sitting next to her with a bowl of cereal.

"Pumpkin Pete's really Jaune?" To Pyrrha's chargin it was becoming an inside joke among Team JPNR that the day needed to be started with Pumpkin's Pete. Due solely on the fact that one of their members was on the box. It was started by Nora of course who quickly dragged Ren into it, and Jaune already ate the cereal for breakfast anyway despite Pyrrha telling them the cereal was less than a good start of the day.

"You know we might have to call Pumpkin Pete's up, and tell them their mascot is less than supportive of their cereal." Jaune said grinning as he shoveled another spoonful into his mouth.

"I think both of us will live." Pyrrha stated dryly, it was pretty cool being a cereal mascot, but it just added to Pyrrha's fame. Jaune laughed though at Pyrrha's expression as he took another spoonful of cereal.

"Any plans for the day? Other than your usual workout, study, and all that jazz." Jaune asked while Pyrrha got set up at a pull up bar bolted to the wall. Grabbing the bar Pyrrha started counting off every time she brought herself over the bar, answering Jaune whenever she lowered herself back down.

"Nothing in particular, I'm most likely going to work on Akoúo̱ later why?" The blonde hung his head for a moment sighing.

"Ruby bailed on me again, saying something about important team business." Jaune exaggerated important team business showing he didn't believe the scythe wielder's excuse.

"Maybe she does have something to do with her team." Pyrrha offered trying to give Ruby the benefit of a doubt. Ruby didn't seem like the kind of person to ditch someone without reason.

"I know, but it seems fishy doesn't it? Did you notice they all left their dorm early this morning. Except for Blake I haven't seen her in two days. Then again I never really see her, always doing her blending in the shadows thing." Pyrrha thought on it noticing she hadn't seen Blake in a while either. If that was the case they should leave team RWBY be. They must be working out a dispute or something, if they were really in trouble Pyrrha doubted they wouldn't hear about it.

"I'm sure they'll all fine Jaune, if they need help with something they know they can ask us." Compared to the other teams in their year team JNPR and RWBY had a pretty solid friendship between the teams. It was still growing of course, but Pyrrha imagined that the two team would make an efficient group together on any missions that came their way.

"Right, I guess I just thought they were all good since snow queen and Ruby made up." Before Jaune could say anything else Pyrrha's scroll buzzed being heard coming from her bag she brought with her.

"I'll grab it for you." Jaune got up letting Pyrrha continue her workout while he grabbed her scroll. Pyrrha nodded giving him permission to get the device. After a moment Jaune returned Pyrrha's scroll in hand. Dropping down Pyrrha took the scroll thanking Jaune. The small mail icon was flashing indicating Pyrrha had a message. Tapping a key Pyrrha opened the message smiling seeing who it was from.

" _Good morning friend Pyrrha!"_ Pyrrha could practically hear Penny's excited voice saying the words.

"Who is it?" Jaune asked taking up his original position sitting on the floor eating his cereal.

"One of the other huntresses coming for the festival. I met her yesterday after we bumped into each other." Pyrrha told Jaune as she keyed in a response to Penny bidding the auburn haired girl a good morning as well.

"Cool, so what do you think my chances of beating her in the tournament are?" Pyrrha gave Jaune a deadpanned look. The blonde really needed to have some confidence in himself.

"I can't say Jaune we only talked I don't even know how she fights. You really should stop worrying about the festival, you'll do fine." Jaune gave her a doubtful look finishing off his cereal getting up and stretching.

"Says you, some of us aren't world renowned fighters." Though Jaune said it with humor lining his voice Pyrrha still knew Jaune had little confidence in his skills.

"Which is why we're here training, you have to have a little faith Jaune. You only just started practicing with me, and you've already improved a great deal." Pyrrha smiled and Jaune just scratched the back of his head.

"Ya I guess," Pyrrha's scroll buzzed again putting to a pause anything else Jaune wanted to say. Pyrrha opened the message finding a picture of a cricket resting next to a strawberry at what looked like a cafe table. Pyrrha grinned upon realizing it was the cricket from yesterday still sticking around with Penny it seemed. Tapping a response Pyrrha asked if Penny planned on naming the cricket before turning her attention back to Jaune.

"Let's go get some breakfast, no offense to Pumpkin Pete of course. I'd rather have something not made purely of sugar." Jaune laughed giving Pyrrha a fake hurt look.

"Sometimes it's the simple pleasures in life Pyrrha, like overly sugary foods." Pyrrha shook her head seriously doubting the benefits of putting such unhealthy things in one's body, but she wouldn't argue with her team leader on this. The two went off to breakfast once they got there Pyrrha's scroll buzzed again another picture of the cricket greeting her though this time another message followed quickly after.

" _I believe he wants to become friends, I think I'll call him Jim!"_ Pyrrha laughed lightly at the message only prompting Jaune to ask what was so funny. Pyrrha waved him off since it was doubtful he would find Penny's enthusiasm for an insect as humorous as Pyrrha did.

It was certainly a good start to the day, though in the back of Pyrrha's mind she did wonder what was going on with team RWBY. Her worries were forgotten though after getting to the cafeteria, answering another message from Penny while talking with Jaune.

* * *

"Come on Penny the explosion came from the docks!" Ruby rushed off Penny following behind her, though thanks to Ruby semblance the auburn haired girl was lagging behind slightly. Penny was frowning, General Ironwood always went on about some danger that Penny would be need to confront. Penny's father claimed Remnant was in a time of peace, but General Ironwood seemed to think otherwise. Perhaps the General was right.

Following Ruby, Penny could hear the sounds of fighting going on. Explosions, blades clashing against blades, gunshots, and Penny felt a strange feeling sparking through her circuits. She was combat ready she knew this as fact, but the auburn haired girl had only ever fought against Atlas military personnel. Strong opponents no doubt, but Penny knew they would never actually hurt her.

Penny pushed the feeling away to analyse it later Ruby had stopped pulling out her scythe calling out to some people down below.

"Hey!" Ruby called, a red haired man in a suit looked up at her smirking.

"Red! Isn't it past your bedtime!" Penny frowned not liking the tone the man was speaking at her friend with, but if this man was Ruby's friend then he couldn't be all bad.

"Ruby are these people your friends?" Ruby's head spun around giving Penny an urgent look.

"Penny get back!" In the next second the man fired something at them, and Ruby was thrown back. Something clicked in Penny's mind, these men were definitely not any friends of Ruby, or anyone for that matter. Glaring Penny approached the edge of the crate they were standing on. Ruby groaned sitting back up she saw Penny standing near the edge in plain view of the enemy.

"Penny don't…" Ruby started getting back up to stop her, but Penny just smiled at her happy her friend was okay.

"Don't worry Ruby, I'm combat ready!" Penny's backpack clicked and soon ten swords hovered behind her. Internally Penny activated her combat mode though unseen by the enemy Penny's computerized mind was coming up with at least a dozen different strategies to take them down. Things became less of reality and more a string of data telling Penny how to react.

Jumping down Penny landed with a thud, glancing at the people in grimm mask who immediately started running at her. With a quick wave of her hand Penny's swords flew through the air spinning knocking the people away with ease. If it weren't for their aura they would be sliced clean in half.

Penny would imagine Ironwood calling these people undisciplined as they started running once they were tossed aside by Penny. Penny soon had the upper hand easily dispatching the foes that dared to hurt her friend. Penny saw the man that shot at Ruby running towards a jet. She wanted to go after him, but her combat mode forced Penny to prioritized targets, and the aircrafts approaching with reinforcements definitely required attention more than the red haired man did.

Calling her swords back to her, switching to ranged mode the weapon charged up unleashing a devastating laser blast cutting the aircrafts in two before they could even get close to land. There was still one remaining aircraft though, it was trying to lift off with a metal shipping crate the Schnee dust company logo emblazoned on its front.

Switching her weapon back to sword form, Penny launched them at the vessel each sword digging deep into the metal hull of the ship. Wire strings that were connected to her swords being pulled taunt making Penny dig her heels into the ground. A normal human would have been lifted off the ground in second by the force of the ship taking off, but Penny was far from human.

It didn't take too much effort on Penny's part to keep the ship from taking off. With a sharp tug Penny pulled on the ship sending it careening into another stack of shipping crates. Satisfied that they were neutralized Penny turned frowning as the ship carrying the man that hurt Ruby too far out of reach.

Distantly Penny could hear sirens and saw out of the corner of her eyes flashing lights. She didn't pay them any mind instead calculating if her weapon's ranged mode could reach the airship. Coming up with a negative Penny searched around for any other threats before allowing herself to deactivate combat mode. Penny blinked shaking her head coming out of combat mode. Though Penny liked to think she was at least somewhat close to human. When it came to fighting Penny's combat mode kept Penny's head clear of any miscellaneous data. Almost as if Penny's emotions shut off briefly allowing her to fight more efficiently. It was something Penny remembered Ironwood pushed for after her father first had her demonstrate her combat capabilities.

Penny recalled her swords standing still for a moment wondering what she should do now. Looking over Ruby had rushed over to Blake who had been laying on the ground in shock of what just happened. Penny felt something jump on her shoulder, she smiled looking over to see Jim chirping happily.

"Oh I'm sorry I didn't mean to drag you down here with me. You should have jumped off before hand." The cricket chirped, having previously taken shelter in Penny's sleeve. He was fine, though it looked like he was less than pleased with Penny's swift movements during the fight.

"Penny! Are you okay?" Penny looked over to see Ruby calling over to her. Approaching the two teammates Penny smiled.

"Don't worry Ruby I told you I was combat ready." Penny told the scythe wielder cheerfully, though her face became serious looking at Blake.

"Are you okay?" Blake nodded getting up giving Penny a small smile.

"I'm fine, thanks." Before Penny could inquire further she heard a flurry of footsteps approaching them. She could tell her combat mode was gearing up reengage, but quickly deactivating itself again upon seeing it was Vale police. Penny frowned, her father told her to avoid any conflict with the police.

The police quickly demanded to know what happened here. Luckily it seemed both Blake and Ruby were quick to begin telling them what happened. The police lead the three girls out of the docking area.

Once they were away Penny spotted a black car and she hung her head. Glancing at her friends neither of them were paying much attention to her right now. Weiss was approaching assumingly to talk to Blake. Before anyone noticed Penny slipped away going over to the car, the door opened for her allowing her access.

She slipped inside, not looking at the man sitting across from her in the spacious car. Penny already knew her father was frowning without having to look at him. Jim seemed to sense Penny's distress and took cover back in Penny's shirt sleeve.

"Penny," Penny's father deep voice rumbled, and Penny's shoulders scrunched up looking out the window instead of at her father.

"You weren't hurt were you?" Penny shook her head still not looking at him.

"Good, now you know you shouldn't be wandering alone. Two days I've been searching for you…"

"I wasn't alone, I was with my friends." Penny cut in before her father could go on. Finally Penny looked at him, Penny's father was an older man. With frazzled greying hair and a bushy beard. He raised an eyebrow at Penny's declaration.

"Friends? You've made some friends?" His voice was soft none of the typically scolding parent tone remain.

"Oh yes, I've made friends with a few people. Well I don't know if Ruby's team considers me a friend, but any friend of Ruby's is one of mine. Then I meet someone else named Pyrrha. She's really nice, she even gave me her scroll number so I can keep in touch with her!" Penny pulled out her scroll to show her father the messages she'd been exchanging with Pyrrha all day. They stopped about an hour ago as Pyrrha had to train with her teammate. Still it was nice, all day Pyrrha had messaged her asking what the auburn haired girl was up to. The two talking about Penny's new cricket friend Jim, and various other things before Pyrrha was called away and Penny had to help Ruby find Blake.

A rare smile came to her father's face looking at the messages.

"That's nice Penny, I'm glad you're making friends. I don't think Ironwood will be too pleased though." Penny frowned, Ironwood was rarely pleased when it came to Penny. She wasn't sure why though, but it didn't matter right now.

"I can keep seeing them right?" Penny knew if she were asking Ironwood this question it'd be no for multiple reasons the General could come up with. This was her father though, and he was always less focused on how many people Penny could defeat in combat, and more on Penny herself.

"Okay, as long as you tell me when you're with them. When General Ironwood gets here though you'll have to take it up with him." Penny practically flew across the distance between them hugging her father.

"Oh thank you! I promise they're nice people you'll have to meet them sometime they're wonderful!" Penny's father chuckled returning the embrace not at all phased by her unnatural strength. General Ironwood wouldn't be showing up until after the break before the next semester that was plenty of time to enjoy her time with her new friends before the General would no doubt tell her to stay away from them. Penny could live with that it was certainly better than before having no friends at all.

* * *

 _ **A.N. Since there isn't any solid canon info about Pyrrha's family and life prior to becoming the famous athlete we see her as I'm going to include some of my own headcanon about how her family. Same goes for Penny since the only thing we know for certain is that she has a father/creator that she cares a lot for. I am definitely having a lot of fun writing these characters hopefully I do them some justice.**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**A.N. Hey lovely readers, first thanks to all the people showing**_ ** _interest in this story. You guys who have reviewed, favorited, or followed are awesome and deserve a dozen cookies^-^. With that enjoy the chapter!_**

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Chapter 3

"It was then I knew that it was just me and the giant Nevermore. A hundred other Grimm lay dead at my feet…." Professor Port's bombastic voice echoed through the classroom as he continued. Pyrrha like most students were less than enthusiastic about the tale Professor Port was spinning. The spear wielder wasn't sure if she should take the story Port was telling as fact, but she at least tried to give her attention to the man. Port was one of those teachers that while he clearly knew a lot about Grimm, he often got sidetracked with one of his stories.

Idly while Pyrrha waited for Port to get back on topic, she looked to her notebook sketching out a new idea for Milo's rifle form. She was thinking of upping the caliber of bullet it fired, but that would mean having to change the dimensions of the chamber to better fit the bullet. A time consuming task to replace the parts, but it could be worth it.

Pyrrha thought process was halted though feeling her scroll vibrate in her pocket. Glancing around she looked at Jaune and Nora the usual culprits for messaging in Port's class. Nora was snoozing away leaning against Ren who didn't even seem phased by it. Looking at Jaune the blonde was scribbling furiously at his notebook, but Pyrrha doubted it was notes about Port's story.

Frowning, Pyrrha didn't like looking at her scroll during class, but it wasn't like she was getting anything from Port's ramblings right now. Stealthy and with a pleasant feeling of rebellion, Pyrrha pulled the device out of her pocket, keeping it below her desk so on the off chance Port would look her way he wouldn't see it.

A flashing message icon appeared on Pyrrha's scroll, and Pyrrha tap it opening the message. Her frown immediately upturned, it was just a message from Penny. Pyrrha hadn't heard from her since Sunday, it was now Wednesday. It wasn't a problem though, after all Pyrrha was sure Penny was busy exploring Vale as well as preparing for the festival.

" _Salutations friend Pyrrha! I hope you're doing well today!"_ Pyrrha briefly wondered if Penny was ever not excited to talk to a friend. Her cheerfulness even in message form was certainly welcomed though.

" _Hello again Penny, I'm well, rather bored though sitting in class. I hope your day is more exciting than mine."_ Pyrrha turned her attention back to Port, but he was still going on about fighting a giant Nevermore. Slipping her scroll back in her pocket it was only a few moments before Pyrrha felt it vibrate again.

" _Sorry! I wasn't aware you were in class, I apologize for interrupting."_ Pyrrha smiled, glancing up to make sure Port wasn't paying attention before typing out a response.

" _It's okay, I'm not really missing anything by talking to you."_ Talking to Penny was certainly more entertaining than Port's rather far fetched story.

" _Are you sure? I do not want to hinder you during class."_ Penny's response appeared on the scroll.

" _You're not hindering me at all Penny, if anything you're making class by go by faster. Anything of note happen these past few days?"_ Slipping her scroll back in her pocket it looked as if Port was finally about to start discussing something pertinent to class, but he quickly got side tracked again going on to tell the class about the time he fought a Goliath.

" _Okay, but if you need to focus on class feel free to disregard my messages."_ Penny's next message came, and Pyrrha shook her head about to type on a response. Before she could though something soft hit the back of her head. Instinctively Pyrrha touched the spot where she felt the object hit her.

Turning around to find where the object came from Pyrrha looked behind her to see Ruby waving at her. The scythe wielder was sitting a good three rows behind Pyrrha on one of the desks higher up in the slanted classroom. Weiss was sitting next to her looking less than pleased, but Pyrrha noted that while she still didn't look too happy with her partner. It was more exasperation than true malice in her expression, unlike when the two were first paired up.

Ruby motioned to the ground, and Pyrrha looked down to see a crumpled paper ball, the object that had hit her. Picking it up Pyrrha made sure Port was still unaware before unfurling the paper.

" _Hey Pyrrha, I dozed off did Port say anything important? Weiss won't tell me."_ A cartoon sad face finished off Ruby's note, and Pyrrha held in a laugh. Quickly Pyrrha wrote a response in before tossing the paper back when Port turned his back.

" _Nothing of great importance, though I admit I haven't really been paying attention either. Perhaps Weiss can take pity on us?"_ Pyrrha felt almost giddy throwing the note back. She never had friends before to pass notes in class to, or message either Pyrrha thought remembering she still needed to message Penny back. At Sanctum, Pyrrha had already gained significant fame, so much so that everyone believed her far beyond them. It lead to several lonely years of combat school.

Before Ruby finished writing a note back, Pyrrha pulled out her scroll.

" _I'd never disregard your messages, so what are you up to today? Are Vale's fruit stands still in one piece?"_ Just as Pyrrha sent the message she heard a soft tap hit the ground near her. Glancing down it was the crumpled paper, Pyrrha quickly picked it up. She noticed after smoothing out the paper that under Ruby's untidy scrawl was the neat elegant writing off Weiss.

" _I know she's being so cold! Who are you messaging by the way? I forgot my scroll in our dorm."_ Another sad face unaccompanied Ruby's note under it though Weiss had appeared to have taken the paper to write something.

" _Both of you should pay attention, you're going to get in trouble."_ Pyrrha could her the heiress' dry tone in her head as she read Weiss' comment. Grinning Pyrrha wrote out a response.

" _I'm talking to Penny, she's a huntress in training from Atlas that has come for the tournament. Also Weiss, since you're passing notes as well doesn't that mean you're not paying attention either?"_ Pyrrha couldn't stop grinning, this was so much fun. The note was passed back to the teammates behind her while Port continued going on about the goliath.

The paper was tossed back to Pyrrha this time landing squarely on her desk, behind her Ruby made a small cheer attracting Port's attention.

"Yes, Miss Rose?" Port paused in his storytelling raising an eyebrow at Team RWBY's leader. Ruby stammered for a second before quickly answering the professor.

"Sorry professor your story is just so exciting!" Port seemed to accept Ruby's answer, and full heartedly continued his story. Pyrrha mentally applauded Ruby's save before unfurling the note.

" _Penny? Does she have ginger hair? Kinda taller than me, but not much? We meet her too! Well Weiss ran into her-"_ It looks as if the note was roughly pulled away from Ruby and Weiss' script took Ruby's place.

" _It was an accident! She was standing right in the middle of the sidewalk!"_ This time Pyrrha covered her mouth with her hand to keep herself from laughing.

" _It's okay Weiss, Penny and I ran into each other too if it's any consolation."_ Pyrrha threw the note back, and her scroll buzzed a moment later. Pulling out her scroll stealthily, Pyrrha briefly wondered if she should be letting herself become this distracted in class. Then again Pyrrha grinned, she never had so much fun in a classroom before, it was almost surreal.

" _Don't worry I have succeeded in not causing any more collateral damage! To my knowledge Vale is still operating to its fullest efficiency. I've been at the park, I met a kind woman who I've been feeding birds with!"_ Pyrrha shook her head wondering how Penny managed to get into such situations. It seemed she had a knack for making friends out of unusual circumstances. Before Pyrrha could type out a response the paper landed back on her desk, and this time Ruby held in the whoop from landing the paper perfectly. Before messaging back Penny, Pyrrha unfurled the note.

" _Tell Penny I said hi! She disappeared on Sunday, we were worried."_ Heeding Ruby's request before Pyrrha wrote back a response to her she pulled out her scroll messaging Penny.

" _I'm glad, by the way Ruby says hi, she says her and the rest of Team RWBY were worried about you."_ Sending the message off Pyrrha waited a few moments for the Atlas native to message her back.

" _Ruby's in your class! Sensational, tell them I am operating just fine, they have nothing to worry about."_ Pyrrha still grinning relayed Penny's message to Ruby tossing the paper back to her.

Behind her Ruby was writing out a response with some interjections from Weiss. However when Ruby tossed the paper back the entire classroom jumped as it was shot out of the air by an amused looking Port. He waited a moment letting his action sink in before putting his blunderbuss axe back on the wall.

"Miss Nikos, Rose, and Schnee, while admire your skill at not disturbing your fellow classmates with your conversation. This is a classroom and you should all be paying attention. Since you all seem so eager to converse, you may converse over the paper on Grimm hunting patterns that I want by tomorrow's class." There was a soft snickering from some of the other students as the three girls all gave a quick yes professor.

The rest of clas dragged on as Pyrrha didn't want to chance looking at her scroll to talk to Penny. Plus the Mistral champion was feeling rather guilty for not paying her fullest attention. When Port dismissed them Pyrrha watched as Ruby chased after Weiss babbling apologizes as the heiress angrily stomped out of class. Blake and Yang following after them the former laughing loudly at the two.

"Pyrrha! Why weren't we included in the secret note passing! Ren is super stealthy Port never would found out!" Nora threw her arm around Pyrrha's shoulders giving the taller girl a disappointed look.

"He would have noticed." Ren stated dryly joining the two girls, Jaune right behind him as the team made its way out of the classroom. Nora let go of Pyrrha instead throwing herself at Ren.

"Ren," Nora drew out the dark haired boy's name, but Ren simply ignored it dragging Nora along as they walked.

"Sorry Nora, I would say I'd include you next time, but I think one extra paper is enough." Pyrrha said, though she couldn't say with certainty that it'd be the last time. That was one of the most entertaining classes' she'd had this semester with Port.

"Can't believe he's only giving you till tomorrow to write it too. That should be a crime or something." Jaune joined in looking truly horrified at the idea of writing a paper in one day. Pyrrha gave him a smile shrugging.

"It's not so bad, better a paper then detention." Pyrrha had never gotten a detention in her life, and she wasn't about to start.

The next class the had that day was their combat class with Professor Goodwitch. If Port shot a note out of the air Pyrrha didn't want to think what the strict Professor Goodwitch would do if she caught someone not paying attention in class. Before getting to class Pyrrha sent a quick message to Penny saying she'll be busy for a while and a promise to talk later. Penny's cheerful response came moments before class began, the Atlas native wishing Pyrrha a good day.

* * *

While Pyrrha's day continued as normal in Vale Penny was waving goodbye to the elderly woman she had been feeding birds with. Earlier the copper haired girl had found the woman sitting at a bench throwing seeds on the ground for the birds. Penny quickly joined the woman fascinated by the woman's ability to attract the avian animals.

Eventually the woman had to leave though leaving Penny to sit on the bench, a few birds lingering picking up some leftover seeds. A chirp from her shoulder brought Penny's attention to her insect companion that has still yet to leave her side. Jim made several chirping noises as he sat on Penny's shoulder. Penny smiled at her small companion, she knew that it was quite illogical to keep the cricket around. He served no purpose, and his small body would no doubt end up getting squished during the tournament.

The cricket chirped again making Penny smile wider. Despite being illogical Penny liked keeping Jim around. Penny's computerized mind worked in logics, if she did something there was a purpose behind it. If something didn't make sense then there was no logical reason to do it, but being in Vale Penny found that it wasn't the case. Either her programing was glitching, or for the first time Penny found she could enjoy doing things simply because she enjoyed doing them.

Sitting on the bench Penny watched the sky above, light fluffy clouds gently moving by above her. Penny wasn't really sure what to do next. She had explored most of the city, and Pyrrha was too busy with class currently to message her.

Penny was glad to hear Ruby and her team were safe in class. She did leave them suddenly after the fight at the docks. Thinking of the docks, Penny wondered if her father informed Ironwoods about the battle. Penny knew for a fact her father knew exactly what happened at the docks.

After they returned to the airship Penny's father had her go into standby mode in order to access Penny's condition in case she was damaged. In that state he could review Penny's logs of the event, and see what exactly happened. Penny has never hated anything before, so she was unsure what the feeling felt like. Though Penny would imagine that would be how she felt towards going into standby mode.

Penny trusted her father with everything, but standby mode would be the human equivalent of a coma. It was a very real fear that Penny knew at anytime Ironwood could decide Penny was no longer needed, and she would be decommissioned. She knew how it would happen, her father would ask her to go into standby mode. Her systems would power down and Penny would be basically dead until her father reactivated her. Except Penny would never come out of it, she would be dismantled and replaced with a better model more suited to protect the world.

Shaking her head Penny didn't want to think such thoughts. Ironwood has given no indication that he hasn't been pleased with Penny's performance thus far. It was pointless to dwell on things she couldn't control. It was a nagging thought though that stayed with Penny even after she got up leaving the park to find something to distract herself with.

* * *

 _ **A.N. This chapter was really fun to write, Pyrrha getting excited about doing silly things with JNPR and RWBY is a blast to write. Despite this story being a Pyrrha/Penny story(What's their ship name anyway?) I don't like ignoring main characters' relationships with other people. Perhaps that's why I was rather dissatisfied with Pyrrha's SPOILER ALERT death. We never got to really see her interact with anyone other than Jaune, and that just made Ruby's sliver eye power awakening moment during the finale seem a little forced since I don't recall Ruby and Pyrrha ever sharing any dialogue with each other. Whoops didn't mean to ramble off on you guys there, but just a little bit of my thoughts there. I guess you might be able to consider this story sort of slow burn, because I don't plan on rushing this relationship. With that I'll see you guys next chapter^_^!**_


	4. Chapter 4

**_A.N. First I'd like to thank all the lovely people who have reviewed, alerted, etc. You guys are awesome and I'm honestly surprised how well this story has been received. I didn't expect anyone to read this since I'm pretty sure its one of the only Pyrrha/Penny fics out there. So thank you guys you're all amazing! With that on to the chapter!_**

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Chapter 4

"I really don't think that's a good idea mother." Jaune perked up hearing his partner's voice. Opening his eyes, looking around it was late moonlight filtered in through the dorm room's window, and Jaune could hear Nora snoring loudly. Pyrrha's voice was muffled, coming from outside the room through the door. Sitting up Jaune rubbed his eyes, glancing at the clock. It was a little bit past midnight.

Carefully Jaune slipped out of bed tip toeing over to the door, he pressed his ear to the door to listen.

"No, no, of course I want to see you! I just…. Yes I know you're fine, but…." Pyrrha must be on the phone with her mother. If Jaune remembered correctly Pyrrha was from Mistral. It must be day time there due to time differences which would explain Pyrrha's late night call. Jaune leaned closer to the door trying to hear more. The blonde didn't know much about Pyrrha's family. The crimson haired fighter rarely spoke of them. A fact that Jaune now found oddly strange, Pyrrha was always so honest. It wasn't like there hadn't been times their families came up in conversation. Jaune remembered a particular fun day at lunch when Yang regaled both teams of the time her and Ruby's father took them fishing. Which ended with two very wet sisters, and no fish at all.

"Mother, I don't want your condition to deteriorate because you came for the tournament." Condition? Was Pyrrha's mother sick? Jaune felt a stab of guilt hit him, he was her team leader and partner how could he not know something so important to Pyrrha. There was a long pause from outside that Jaune could only assume was Pyrrha's mom talking to her daughter.

"It's not like you haven't seen me fight before." Jaune barely heard Pyrrha mumble it, but there was a depressed note that Jaune has never heard in Pyrrha's voice before. After another moment of Pyrrha's mother speaking, Jaune heard the crimson haired fighter sigh.

"Thank you mother, but I still think it's best if you stay home….Okay, yes it is late in Vale….Okay talk to you later then, love you too." Jaune heard a small tap of Pyrrha disconnecting the call on her scroll. Quickly he got ready to throw himself back in bed to avoid getting caught eavesdropping, but he didn't need to. He heard footsteps getting distance as Pyrrha walked away.

Frowning Jaune wondered if he should go after her, clearly whatever was going on was bothering her. However, Jaune wasn't sure if it was his place to pry. After all if Jaune had not woke up he probably never would have known anything was wrong with Pyrrha. The crimson haired fighter seemed to have a knack for putting on the friendly smile even when something was wrong. Maybe Jaune was wrong though, and there was nothing to worry about.

Still Jaune swallowed checking to make sure Ren and Nora were still asleep. Carefully he crept out of the room going to the only place he would imagine Pyrrha going this late at night.

Going out to the rooftop they always trained at Jaune found Pyrrha sitting on the edge of the building looking out at the starry skies above. The crimson haired fighter must have heard him approaching as her head turned to look at him.

"Jaune? What are you doing up so late?" Pyrrha's eyebrow rose as Jaune walked over plopping down next to Pyrrha.

"I could ask you the same thing." Jaune grinned cheekily, though it quickly disappeared seeing the frown set on Pyrrha's face. Pyrrha's normal polite demeanor was gone, instead she seemed distant. A prevalent sadness lingering in her expression.

"What's wrong?" Pyrrha jolted at the question as if realizing she wasn't appearing as she normally was.

"Nothing, I just couldn't sleep." Pyrrha gave Jaune a rather unconvincing smile to try and prove it. Jaune frowned, he didn't want to reveal that he overheard her conversation, or at least a part of it.

"You know how you always say you'll help me when I need something. Well I sort of figured it was assumed it went both ways, but I'll say it in case the memo didn't get through. If there's something wrong Pyrrha you can tell me." A small part of Pyrrha's resolve seemed to dissolve at that, her frown returned. Emerald eyes looked away, instead looking down at the school below them.

"It's really nothing," Jaune frowned when Pyrrha stood up still not looking at him.

"I just needed some air, that's all." His teammate walked away saying good night while Jaune sat there his mouth open wanting to say something but couldn't find the words. He sighed after Pyrrha left a feeling of uselessness creeping up on him. Standing up Jaune headed back to the dorm thinking of someway to get Pyrrha to open up to him.

* * *

The next day Pyrrha found she couldn't focus at all in class. She knew Jaune overheard some of her conversation with her mother, and she could feel the blonde's worried glances at her throughout the day. Sitting in Professor Goodwitch's class, Pyrrha let her mind wander. Currently Ruby and Weiss were fighting two students in their class that Pyrrha couldn't recall their names right now, but it didn't matter. Pyrrha herself wasn't fighting, so she was free to zone out.

Last night Pyrrha had finally called her mother back after putting it off for days. It wasn't that Pyrrha didn't like talking to her mother, in fact Pyrrha normally loved telling her everything that was going on at school. However her mother was feeling better from her illness as of late, and despite that being wonderful news. It always meant that the elder Nikos was going to try and do something that would push herself too far, and lead her being worse off than she was prior.

It's happened before, Pyrrha gripped her pencil that she wasn't actually using tightly. When Pyrrha went to Sanctum, Pyrrha's third tournament she attended. Her mother of course wanted to come and support her daughter. Back then Pyrrha's mother could still stand, and was considered as healthy as one with her condition could be. Pyrrha didn't want to remember the details, but her mother has been in a wheelchair or confined to bed ever since.

Apparently her mother was quick to forget the accident though, and she planned to attend the Vytal festival. Pyrrha's eyes narrowed, why couldn't her mother just stay home and rest like she should. It wasn't like she would miss Pyrrha fighting. The tournament would be broadcasted all over Remnant after all. Even Pyrrha's small village would receive the broadcast. Plus her mother has seen her fight and win matches a dozen times over. The Vytal festival would be no different.

The elder Nikos was far too stubborn, Pyrrha no doubt would have to go home for break to try and stop her from coming. There was no way Pyrrha was going to let her mother endanger her health just to watch a silly tournament she could watch at home.

Pyrrha's scroll buzzing in her pocket broke the crimsoned haired fighter from her thoughts. Glancing at Professor Goodwitch, the Professor was watching the fight with interest. No doubt noting the improvement Ruby and Weiss have made with their teamwork. Ever so carefully Pyrrha pulled her scroll half out of her pocket glancing at the message displaying on the screen.

" _Salutations Pyrrha! I hope your day is going well."_ A small smile came to Pyrrha's face, Penny's ever present exuberance making her forget her previous worries. Sliding her scroll back into her pocket Pyrrha didn't want to message back yet. Not in Professor Goodwitch's class, she was already slightly behind in her work due to the extra paper she had to do for getting caught in Port's class. Pyrrha didn't want to risk getting anymore extra work, or worse a detention.

Turning her gaze back on the fight below Pyrrha watched Weiss and Ruby battle their opponents. They certainly were doing much better compared to their first day. Ruby flying about the field with her scythe with the help of Weiss' glyphs. The two other students barely had time to block as Ruby came flying their way.

Eventually their combined efforts brought down their foes, and the screen above the training arena buzzed. The other team's flashing red aura bars declaring them the losers of this match. Pyrrha watched as Ruby let out a whoop of victory holding out her hand to Weiss for a high five. The heiress rolled her eyes, but without looking at Ruby she held her hand up letting Ruby slap her hand against her's.

"Well done Miss Rose, Schnee as you can see teamwork is essential on the battlefield. A well functioning partnership is the difference between victory and defeat in the arena. Class dismissed, tomorrow we will be doing full four on four matches be ready." The class erupted into the usual after class excitement. Students began rushing out the classroom eager to get away from the strictest professor at Beacon.

This was Team JNPR's last class for the day, and Nora was already dragging Ren to the cafeteria for dinner. Pyrrha got her stuff about to pull her scroll out to message Penny back when Jaune appeared next to her.

"Uhh hey Pyrrha." The blonde awkwardly greeted, if it wasn't because of her Pyrrha would have giggled at Jaune's lack of subtlety. Instead she sighed glancing around to make sure no one of importance was around Pyrrha spoke.

"Jaune's really I'm fine you don't have to worry." Pyrrha stated bluntly, it was the truth after all. Jaune jumped not expecting Pyrrha to be so blunt.

"Are you sure cause…." Pyrrha nodded her head cutting him off.

"Jaune I really appreciate the concern, but my mother has been ill for a long time. I'm used to arguing with her about her health. This isn't the first time, and it won't be the last." Jaune appeared shocked for a moment, no doubt believing Pyrrha wasn't aware he heard some of her conversation last night. He recovered quickly though scratching the back of his head.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Pyrrha blinked, Jaune sounded genuinely concerned for her mother's health. It was strange usually when the topic of Pyrrha's mother came up. It was because her manager wanted to use the fact that Pyrrha's mother was ill to boost Pyrrha's popularity. Make her a tragic figure of sorts, the tournament champion who despite having to take care of her ill mother still triumphed in battle.

The thought made Pyrrha inwardly snort, sure Pyrrha helped out alot at home when she was younger, but her mother made sure that Pyrrha still had a relatively normal childhood. The elder Nikos would never accept being treated like an invalid.

"Yes she will, thank you for asking. I promise Jaune if something is actually wrong I'll tell you, but I swear this happens all the time." Jaune seemed to sense the honesty in Pyrrha's words, and he nodded the two begining to exit the classroom together.

"So if you don't mind me asking you never really talk about your family much. I mean Nora and Ren have told us all about them growing up together, and I've talked about my folks before. What's your family like?" Pyrrha shrugged, the truth she never talked about her family, because it was rare that anyone would ask.

"There's not much to tell, it's just my mother and I. I don't have any siblings, or cousins to my knowledge." Pyrrha saw Jaune frown, the blonde appearing uncertain for a second.

"What about your dad?" Pyrrha frowned for a second, the crimson haired fighter barely remembered her father. The man dying in the events that also brought along her mother's illness.

"He passed away a long time ago when I was very young. Don't look like that Jaune, it's okay. I don't mind talking about my family." Jaune stammered for a minute before he recovered letting out a cough.

"Heh sorry, what's your mom like then?" Pyrrha paused for a moment thinking of the best way to describe her mother.

"I can't really think of a way to describe her, but she used to be a huntress before she married my father." Jaune seemed to perk up after that feeling better that he wasn't bringing up unpleasant memories.

"Somehow I'm not surprised you're related to a huntress. Was your dad a hunter too?" Pyrrha shook her head, the people in her village that knew her father before he passed always told a young Pyrrha that she got her calm friendly temperament from her dad, and fighting prowess from her mother. Pyrrha remembered the pleasant feeling she got whenever someone compared her to her father. It made her feel closer to the man she never really met.

"He was actually just a farmer." Jaune burst out laughing at that, and Pyrrha raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry I just have a hard time imagining you living on a farm. Oh please tell me he was a potato farmer or something like that." Pyrrha sighed, leave it to Jaune to find her father's occupation hilarious.

"No, we raised sheep my mother and some of our neighbors still help take care of them. My father would be rolling in his grave if we got rid of his flock." Jaune was snickering, and Pyrrha sighed shaking her head.

"Is it really that funny?" Jaune coughed trying to contain his laughter.

"Yep, I mean come on the watching you cream Team CRDL is kind of ruined now, because all I'll be thinking about is a tiny you raising sheep." Pyrrha blushed, this was a first for her. No one has ever reacted like this when Pyrrha revealed her more humble beginings. Everyone expected her have been a champion fighter since birth. When really it was by chance and pure luck that Pyrrha had impressed a teacher from Sanctum who had been passing through the village.

The teacher had seen Pyrrha dispatch a Boarbatusk that had made its way into her family's field. At the time Pyrrha hadn't thought it wasn't a big deal. Smaller Grimm had always snuck pass the village's walls. Her mother had trained her to be able to deal with weaker Grimm when watching their animals. Apparently her display had impressed the teacher as he directed her to a tournament in Mistral's capital. One that could win Pyrrha a scholarship into combat school. Unbeknownst at the time that tournament would be the first of many Pyrrha would win.

"It's not any more hilarious than you being your sisters' hairdresser." It was Jaune's turn to blush now, regretting that he told his team that he knew how to make almost every hairstyle out there. Thanks to having seven sisters all who just had to have the best hair at their school.

"Haha very funny, let's just get dinner and never talk about our families again." Pyrrha laughed, grinning since she managed to turn the tables on Jaune's teasing. She paused though remembering she still needed to catch up on some work.

"I'll have to get something later, I have to finish that paper for Professor Oobleck. Writing that extra one for Port put me back a little." Jaune snorted, doubting Pyrrha would ever turn anything in late or not finish something. He nodded though heading off to the cafeteria on his own while Pyrrha headed to the library.

Walking Pyrrha realized she still hadn't messaged Penny back, inwardly scolding herself Pyrrha pulled out her scroll.

" _Sorry I made you wait, I'm doing well. I have a paper I need to write, but luckily classes are done for today."_ Pyrrha sent her message pocketing her scroll, quickening her pace to make it to the library.

Entering the library Pyrrha made her way over to a table off to the side placing her bag on it. Before she could do anything else though her scroll buzzed signalling Penny had messaged her back.

" _It's no problem, I'm not bothering you am I?"_ Pyrrha smiled lightly, after messaging her so much these past few days. Penny was always quick to make sure she wasn't distracting or bothering Pyrrha. She wasn't of course, Pyrrha found she was enjoying talking to the Atlas native.

" _You never are, so what goes on today? It has to be more exciting than my paper."_ Pyrrha was always quick to push the idea that Penny might be bothering her aside. Hopefully the idea that she wasn't would stick with the Atlas native, but until then Pyrrha would continue to assure Penny that she wasn't a bother. Pocketing her scroll, Pyrrha went about grabbing a few books on the subject she was writing on before returning to the table to begin working.

" _Father has given me lein to spend however I see fit! I am unsure what to buy, so I have been trying to decide what to purchase."_ Pyrrha smiled lightly reading Penny's message. She was glad Penny's father seemed to be relaxing enough to let Penny freely roam without any trouble, though Pyrrha still wasn't sure about the man. Penny clearly cared for him, but since Pyrrha's first impression of him was Penny running away from him. It left Pyrrha to have a lingering distrustful feeling about the man.

" _Perhaps after I finish my paper we should go shopping? Having a second opinion might make it easier to buy something."_ Pyrrha sent of the message returning to her paper, but was quickly drawn away from it again by a quick response from Penny.

" _That sounds wonderful! Don't rush your work on my account though, I shall wait until whenever you have finished."_ Smiling Pyrrha sent a quick response telling Penny she'll be done shortly. The paper wasn't particularly long or a difficult one. It was still classwork though, and Pyrrha wanted to make sure to get it done. Plus with the promise of getting to see Penny in person again after quite some time made Pyrrha work even more efficiently than she normally did.

It didn't take too long for Pyrrha to write up a draft. All it needed was some editing, a final copy made, and it would be done. Satisfied Pyrrha packed up her stuff in her bag, she could edit it later. Heading back to Team JNPR's dorm Pyrrha sent Penny a quick message telling her she was going to change out of her school uniform then take the ferry down to Vale.

Unlocking the door to the dorm Pyrrha was greeted by Nora nearly tackling her.

"Pyrrha! You missed dinner it was taco day!" Nora cried out as if it was a crime to miss such a meal.

"They were burritos." Ren noted, the dark haired boy was sitting on his bed idly flipping through a book while Nora went on. Pyrrha gave Nora a small smile.

"I'm sorry Nora, I needed to finish a paper." Nora threw her hands in the air dramatically falling backwards onto Ren's bed. The action didn't even phase Ren as he continued reading his book.

"In a contest of a paper against tacos. Tacos win every time!" Nora said jumping back up into a sitting position on Ren's bed.

"Burritos." Ren piped up again leading Nora to start going on about how it doesn't matter as both foods were equally better than classwork. Pyrrha chuckled lightly letting Nora go on while she went over to grab some clothes out of the dresser. Seeing Pyrrha getting ready recaptured the ginger hammer wielder.

"Are you going out?" Nora asked eyes sparkling with curiosity. Pyrrha nodded, grabbing a pair of jeans and a tank top from the dresser. There wasn't any need to wear her usual armor so the crimson hair fighter kept it simple.

"Really? You look happy about it, is it with a boy?" Nora wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. Though the hammer wielder didn't notice it Ren was giving her a disapproving look from behind. Pyrrha just shook her head rubbing the back of it giving an apologetic smile to Nora.

"No Nora, it's just a new friend. One of the the contestants coming to Vale for the tournament." Nora's face twisted in thought for a moment before her eyes lite up.

"Oh ya Jaune mentioned you meet someone from….Atlas right? You're meeting with them?" Pyrrha nodded to both Nora's questions then Nora grinned the same insane grin she got when talking about breaking Cardin's legs.

"Good! You can learn all their secrets so we can destroy them in the tournament!"

"Nora!" Ren abolished his partner who only shrugged as if she said nothing wrong. By now Pyrrha was used to Nora jumping from talking happily about pancakes to violently harming someone, so she just shook her head heading into the bathroom to change letting Ren handle the situation. When she finished changing Nora and Ren were now in a heated debate over whether it was a good idea for Nora to break someone's legs during the tournament. Well the conversation was heated on Nora's end. If one didn't know Ren they'd think he wasn't even paying attention to his partner. Giving a wave goodbye to Ren as Nora was too distracted to notice her leaving Pyrrha headed out to Vale to meet Penny.

* * *

 _ **A.N. I've included quite a bit of my own personal headcanon's about Pyrrha's family since there's nothing canon about Pyrrha other than a few things, so I'm fleshing her out a bit by including her family. Personally I see Pyrrha coming from a zero to hero sort of situation. Being a nobody from a far off village would no doubt boost her popularity when she began winning tournaments. Plus I see Pyrrha as being the type of person where family is important to her, so it disappoints me that nothing about her home life is mentioned in canon. And if any of you are wondering Mama Nikos' illness was purposely not mention yet. It will come up later, but for now Pyrrha and Penny shopping trip next chapter see you guys then!**_


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